Utilizing Social Media Analytics to Demonstrate Program Impact

The application of social media within programs has grown exponentially over the past decade and have become a popular way for programs to engage and reach their stakeholders and inform engagement efforts. Consequently, organizations are utilizing data analytics from social media platforms as a way to measure impact. These data can help programs understand how program objectives, progress, and outcomes are disseminated and used (i.e., through discussions, viewing of content, following program social media pages). The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) conducted a presentation at the 2018 AEA (American Evaluation Association) national conference on a novel technique that utilizes social media analytics to demonstrate program impact. Conference participants learned from OEIE's first-hand experience using a framework to make social media metrics more powerful, the power in aligning the framework to program objectives, the truth that is spoken in analyzing and visualizing social media metrics, and next steps for future use in evaluation. In the presentation, OEIE shared their experience applying this analytic technique to the social media efforts of a multi-institutional program.